RESULTS OF THE 1959 PLAN; PLAN FOR 1960 AND TARGETS FOR 1965 UNDER THE THIRD FIVE-YEAR PLAN
In September 1959, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia issued directives for the Third Five-Year Plan, covering the years 1961-65,1 on the basis of a report by the chairman of the State Planning Office, O. Šimůnek.2 Many of these targets surpass those outlined by the first secretary of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, A. Novotný, at the Eleventh Congress of the Party in June 1958 and described as long-term plans in Chapter 2, Section 7, and Chapter 4, Section 5, of this book. In Plánované hospodářství, No. 11, 1959, the following comparison was given (all index numbers 1957 = 100, based on gross value):
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Under Di- rectives of June 1958 |
Under Di- rectives of September 1959 | ||
| Index of industrial production | 190-95 | 201 | |
| Index of agricultural production | 140 | 140 | |
| Index of volume of construction | 170-80 | 179.8 | |
| Index of output in engineering | 230 | 260 | |
| Index of output in chemical industry | 250 | 300 | |
| Hard coal, million tons | 35-36 | 35.5 | |
| Coke, million tons | 10.7 | 11.6 | |
| Crude steel, million tons | 9.2-9.7 | 10.5 | |
| Electricity, billion kwh | 38 | 37.7 | |
| Plastics, thousand tons | 90-95 | 105.6 | |
| Cement, million tons | 7 | 8.6 | |
Stepping-up of targets for 1965 was motivated by the fast growth of the national economy in 1958-59.3 In fact, as far as industry is concerned, the increases in gross value of output in these years were the highest since the currency reform in 1953; comparable costs of production were lowered; and contrary to the first industrialization drive of 1951-53, there
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